Korg CR-4 owner manual More advanced techniques, Multi-track recording, Expanding the inputs

...............Here are a few more techniques that you can

use to help with your recording

Multi-track recording

The CR-4 allows you to record four tracks at once. The example we gave above only recorded one track at a time.

If you are recording a group of musicians, you can record more than one track at once, and adjust the balance later.

You can record on a pair of tracks (either 1+2 or 3+4). Press one [REC/OL] button, and then the other [REC/OL] button of the pair to arm. You can also arm and record on all four tracks by using four fingers to press all four [REC/OL] buttons together.

If you are recording on more than one track, remember that only one track at the most can use the Ampworks effects. Don’t try to press

...............more than one [EFFECT] switch at the same

time

Expanding the inputs

You can use a small mixer to mix together sev- eral different instruments (for example, a ste- reo chorus rhythm guitar and a buttonboard with the bass), and use this to feed two tracks. The other two tracks can then be used for lead guitar and vocals.

Typically, you’ll create a stereo sub-mix using the small external mixer, and record the left and right outputs of the mixer on two tracks.

...............When you come to mix down, you’ll pan these

two tracks hard right and hard left

Expanding the number of tracks

The CR-4 is restricted to four tracks on a cas- sette, but you can record more than four tracks in a song if you use a mixdown stereo recorder.

It’s probably best to use a digital (CD or MD) recorder as your stereo recorder, to avoid tape hiss and noise building up.

1Record the first four tracks as described above (→p.9).

2Mix down to the stereo recorder(→p.12) and rewind your CR-4 tape to the start of the recording (or insert a new tape).

More advanced techniques

3Connect the [LINE OUT] of the stereo recorder to inputs 1 and 2 of the CR-4. You may not want to add any effects to these tracks just yet, so make sure all [EFFECT] switches are off.

4Arm all the CR-4 tracks from 1 through 4 (so that you write over the previously recorded tracks). Move the [TRIM] controls and the faders of tracks 3 and 4 to their lowest level (all the way down).

5Play back the stereo recording, and adjust the [TRIM] controls of tracks 1 and 2.

6Start recording on the CR-4 and play back the mixed stereo recording from the begin- ning. Disconnect the stereo recorder from the CR-4 inputs, and safe all CR-4 tracks.

If you’re using a cassette recorder as your stereo recorder, you can take the mixed cas- sette from the stereo recorder and put it in the CR-4. The stereo tracks will become tracks 1 and 2 on the CR-4. Remember you cannot use noise reduction on your stereo cassette recorder, and because the track lay- out of the CR-4 is different to that of an ordinary cassette recorder, you must use only one side of the stereo cassette.

7Now you can use tracks 3 and 4 for new tracks, along with the previous tracks now bounced onto 1 and 2.

Once you’ve mixed your first four tracks to stereo, there’s no way of separating them again! So if you decide after recording tracks 5 and 6 that the bass is too quiet (or you notice a wrong note!), there’s not a lot you can do about it. You may want to use a new cassette for the bounced tracks, and

...............preserve your first four tracks on the origi-

nal cassette

Using the noise reduction

As part of the Ampworks effector, there is a noise-reduction system built in. If you’re play- ing a noisy guitar, or using a microphone in a noisy situation, this allows you to cut out the unwanted sound in quiet passages while let- ting through the wanted sound when the threshold level is reached.

Adjust the threshold level by pressing and holding the [TAP] button and turning the [EFF. DEPTH] control.

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